So the countdown has begun, this years participants are heading home overhead, some even returning due to being turned away by French Air Traffic I believe!! Anyway, I was wondering about the 2018 show and in particular what date it will be?

At the moment there are a couple of 'ideas' out there..... a) On the road closure notice, compliments of dear old South Somerset District Council, they have stated 7th July 2018 being the date. b) I believe the Audrey Hewlen Agency (who organise the Air Day) have signed a contract for five years so that bodes well that there's going to be a show or c) There won't be one at all as it's going to be a 'year about' with Culdrose from now on, ie every two years starting with Culdrose's turn in 2018.

I do not honestly see for one minute that there will ever be an alternative arrangement with Culdrose. Yeovilton has so many advantages over Culdrose, including its size and location and that it is the HQ of the FAA, and also that the current Captain at Culdrose seems to have an anti-airshow sentiment. It is a big shame for those of us down this end of the country, but I think we have seen the end of Culdrose air day.

The Star of Woo wrote:So the countdown has begun, this years participants are heading home overhead, some even returning due to being turned away by French Air Traffic I believe!! Anyway, I was wondering about the 2018 show and in particular what date it will be?

At the moment there are a couple of 'ideas' out there..... a) On the road closure notice, compliments of dear old South Somerset District Council, they have stated 7th July 2018 being the date. b) I believe the Audrey Hewlen Agency (who organise the Air Day) have signed a contract for five years so that bodes well that there's going to be a show or c) There won't be one at all as it's going to be a 'year about' with Culdrose from now on, ie every two years starting with Culdrose's turn in 2018.

Fingers crossed we'll soon know for sure either way.

Well Farnborough (public days) are on the 21st and 22nd July 2018 so would assume RIAT will be 13th - 15th July with Yeovilton ended up on 7th July.

While the shows of late have stood on their own perfectly well, I'd love to see Yeovilton attempt something audacious like a Hunter meet, a Hornet gathering (naval aircraft that will be celebrating 40th anniversary next year, good opportunity to get lots on static from near and far!), or even something larger like a dedicated MPA gathering, in view of the fact that they have the RAF's centenary to stand out from. A really strong theme that might manage to pull in exotic stars from afar if really presented well - imagine if Aussie Hornets could be persuaded to come over for it! Focusing on perhaps one particular aeroplane and suggesting it as a main event for that type.

Wissam24 wrote:While the shows of late have stood on their own perfectly well, I'd love to see Yeovilton attempt something audacious like a Hunter meet, a Hornet gathering (naval aircraft that will be celebrating 40th anniversary next year, good opportunity to get lots on static from near and far!), or even something larger like a dedicated MPA gathering, in view of the fact that they have the RAF's centenary to stand out from. A really strong theme that might manage to pull in exotic stars from afar if really presented well - imagine if Aussie Hornets could be persuaded to come over for it! Focusing on perhaps one particular aeroplane and suggesting it as a main event for that type.

Would be glad to consult

While I commend and encourage your energy, I cannot think for the life of me why a show outside of RIAT's pulling power would try for a gathering of a type celebrating an anniversary that never served the air arm hosting, the country hosting or indeed has ever been stationed in the country. Australian ones, can't see it ever happening. It was difficult enough getting a long range type like the F-111 over. Four visits in around 30 years of service, the last in 1994.

If they want to theme, it needs to be something simple such as Naval helicopter aviation, plenty of scope within Europe, especially of rarely seen stuff - Polish SH-2, Mi14, Spanish SH-60, AB212, Italian Merlin, Danish SH-60 etc. to choose from.

Just work on the fact it is a Naval air show and make the best of that with the best of filler making up the rest (RAF usuals, best of the civilian acts, some F-16s etc).

I think the likes of an F-18 meet at Yeovilton wouldn't be too much of a snub to RIAT, after all, if the focus is on an aircraft designed primarily with maritime operations in mind then I don't think Yeovilton would be considered too much of an ambitious move to hold something like that there. As Wissam says, the idea of the next Yeovilton air day seeing Hornets and Super Hornets from as far afield as Australia and Canada, Finland and Spain wold be quite something and no throwing of the Gauntlet at the feet of RIAT at all. Yeovilton itself now is by far and away, since the demise of all the RAF Battle of Britain 'at homes' the largest one day military air show, albeit with little competition. But with the plug pulled on Waddington, it is now beyond doubt the largest military event other than RIAT at all within this sceptre isle. Time to think outside the Box! The upper one that is!

Finningley Boy wrote:Yeovilton itself now is by far and away, the largest one day military air show, albeit with little competition.

Depends on how you class 'largest' I suppose? Cosford gets a much bigger crowd, but Yeovilton pulls better display items.

I've never really rated an air show on the crowd it pulls and I can't imagine the gulf between the Cosford show and the Yeovilton one being that much of a chasm. It would, of course, be quite significant if say Cosford attracted a regular crowd which compared with RIAT. I have noticed that Cosford very quickly has a long queue of traffic, leaden in movement as well. Yeovilton I find I'm in quite quickly, the latter does seem a lot more porous with access points at one end and the other. Cosford seems more of a bottle neck. But without too much of a stark contrast in ticket sales, I think it is primarily what's going on overhead that really counts. In that case, in terms of content, Yeovilton has runs rings round everything outside of RIAT since the last Waddington air show in 2014. Many years ago I was speaking to someone at Yeovilton about the how that event compared with Culdrose, he accepted that Yeovilton attracted the more impressive line up of aircraft, but pointed out that Culdrose always made more money! I'm not sure this was maintained in recent years, hence the dropping of the Culdrose event, otherwise if it proved to be the more lucrative event to date I very much doubt it would have disappeared.

Finningley Boy wrote:Yeovilton itself now is by far and away, the largest one day military air show, albeit with little competition.

Depends on how you class 'largest' I suppose? Cosford gets a much bigger crowd, but Yeovilton pulls better display items.

", hence the dropping of the Culdrose event, otherwise if it proved to be the more lucrative event to date I very much doubt it would have disappeared."

FB

Don`t think it has much to do with money. The official line is " operational commitments" but more likely a "new broom " in charge.

I think you're right Xray, there are plenty of reasons which may lay beneath the 'official line' but increasingly HM Forces seem less inclined as well as less endowed to make quite the same effort regarding air shows specifically, whatever is claimed. By the way, who are the actual originating authority for Culdrose and Yeovilton Air Days? Is it the Navy Board? The FAA Sea Lord or the respective Station Commanders? The RAF Cosford air show, I understand is held at the request, not just approval, of the Air Force Board. This was the same for Waddington and Leuchars and for all the former Battle of Britain displays held by the RAF. Those RAF stations which increasingly from the late 1960s held air days through the Summer months did so at the behest of the Station Commanders. This was seen, apparently, as a career stepping stone upward and forward at the time, but again, petered out following the end of the cold war in the early '90s. The last Station air day routinely held of course was St Mawgan IAD, in 1998. A station anniversary fully comprehensive public air day was held, quite as a one off at Valley in 2001, but since then as we well know, the rest is history.